K271MKII Over Ear Closed Back Headphones, Versatile design, High performance build, Exceptional isolation - Black & Blue

Great quality headphones. I'm no audio engineer but the EQ sounds flatter than anything I've listened to before (this is good for use with mixing). Personally, I found these really comfortable, the headband consistently adjusts well for a comfortable fit (however, there are some reviews that say otherwise - I have longer hair so perhaps that helps pad it out a bit). I will note that in prolonged use, my ears do get quite warm - though I think that would be the same with most over-ear headphones (I had the same problems in prolonged used with my Sennheiser HD 201). The semi-openness makes a huge difference to closed-back style (again, comparing to my HD 201) - harshly panned sounds sound like they are coming from the extremes of the side of your head - and by nature the sound sounds more 'open', less collecting inside the middle of your head. Obviously of note, if you work in a somewhat noisy environment these are probably not the headphones to go for, you can still hear a somewhat decent amount from your surroundings, but I'd imagine a lot less than full-open back style headphones. The build quality feels sturdy enough, I have dropped them a few times and have never had to be concerned about them having any perceivable damage. If I remember correctly, it ships with two ear cups - One made of spongy material and the other made of leathery material. I've only tried the leathery one (I figured my ears would get to hot in the spongy ones) and have found them very comfortable. The headphones also come with two cables with Mini(?)-XLR connectors on one end and a 3.5mm jack on the other. One is a long straight cable, the other a wound cable. I use both cables. When I'm on my laptop I use the wound cable, and at my PC I use the straight cable (as it needs to be routed to the other side of my desk). I haven't particularly tested it, but I don't think the way you put the headphones on matters (The cups and headband seems to be uni-directional) so if you're bothered about having the cable on your left, I shouldn't imagine you'd suffer any discomfort from rotating the headphones around - obviously remember to swap the channels on your hardware though. For the price - I'm really impressed, and more than satisfied. I've owned these for 8 months and not had a single problem or issue. Would recommend.

solid and nicely isolated due to their closed back nature, these headphones are ideal for my uses, they are solely used as my drumming headphones, so I can jam along to my songs without having to play my music too loudly, and stopping me going deaf from my drum kit too. Although when drumming I do not really get the whole benefit of the AKG sound quality, I have tried them running off my PC with a little dot mk 2 tube amp, and have to say the quality is nearly as good as my AKG K702s I use for playing games, and listening to music on primarily (although due to the closed nature of the k271s I am reviewing here, the sound stage is more compressed. For prolonged use these headphones are comfy, and will enclose my ears instead of partially trapping them, even with my glasses on. I consider my ears relatively average size, so would like to think this would be the case for most people, but it's worth trying them if possible. They are very secure in my head, I wouldn't say tight, but hold enough that I can play like a madman on my drums and headbang along without them falling off - which would lead me to think that if they do sit over part of your ear they would get uncomfortable with long periods of wearing. The cans come with a nice long cable, with your 3.5 audio jack as standard for mp3 players and phones, and a screw in larger phono adaptor for plugging into most other things, including some guitar amps, or my other electric drums =). In my opinion a very good set of cans for the price, and I would definitely recommend to drummers or other musicians due to their isolation, and nice long, sturdy cable and option of phono or standard 3.5 jack. A high recommendation from me.

I ordered these to replace my previous set which had broken. I paid about £125 for my originals; these were a steal at £85 so I was a little tense. They arrived when stated, well packaged, brand new, very pleased. (I have of course now seen them for £78!) . These are for use in my home studio. They are "closed back" to prevent the track you are listening to in them from being too easily picked up by the mic' when recording a second track. (Also know as "bleed" if you are new to recording here, searching for items AND guidance) . (If you are using headphones for editing/mixing, as opposed to overdubbing/recording, then you should also get a set of "open back" headphones, which allow the sound to escape through grilles in the ear pieces, giving a more natural sound for mixing. Basically; get a set of each, and use them as I describe. I have seen reviews on line by some people criticimg the "lack of punchy bass". These people do not understand the recording process; they are probably just LISTENING to music on band camp or you tube or whatever. You can use toy headphones or ear buds for that! These K271 are a professional tool. The whole point of these is NOT to have a too punchy "anything"! Not TO exagerate the bass, Mid, or treble.....so that your judgements when EQing are based on a sound that is UNBIASED as much as possible. Hope that helps folks. OH! And they have a grooooovy built in "switch". If you take the headphones off when recording, they automatically cut out the sound! Which means that if you put them down on the desk or whatever the sound will NOT accidentally be heard by the mic...because it has been stopped. Far out! ( man!) Hope that info is good for somebody, and good luck in all you do. Steve.

These are pretty famous and well known so have been around for years, more than 30 years! I think I spotted a pair in the NWA film circa 1985, though those ones were probably made in Austria unlike these. They do feel a bit cheap but they have a detachable cord, are fairly comfortable too. The sound is mostly flat and while fairly accurate for studio use they have a total lack of bass. There is some bass there down to around perhaps 50Hz but not much below that. So not a fun headphones but if you need something for monitoring or tracking or home studio and can find them for 40 or less they might be worth a listen. Bearing in mind the highly detailed review that is the top review I don't think these are anywhere near as good as the Austrian originals and i would not pay £58 for them. I think I paid £45 around 6 years ago but had just had my Beyerdynamic DT 880 Pros stolen and was desperate for something accurate and cheap. I should have read more reviews. For £40-45 they are ok, but don't pay more than that as there are better options for £58 - 80 like the Sony MDR 7506 which are leagues ahead of these and have good accurate bass reproduction but not boom like bass of those terrible beats cans.

Quick delivery, item as described, very comfortable and great sound quality. Received with thanks.

The AKG K240 is probably the best headphone in the £50 area money can buy. Because of the long production run and moving production to China they are an incredible bargain. Before judgement can begin it needs about a week break in period, listen to them before this by all means but don't be critical. Will it suit everyone? No absolutely not, they are listed as semi open well that may be but they leak sound loudly into the environment you are in so may disturb others in same room. Let's get one thing out of the way the K240 is a difficult headphone to drive! Yes it will produce sound from a mobile phone or iPod, but such devices are completely incapable of revealing what the headphone is capable of they need a dedicated amplifier even some receiver integrated amp socket won't cope. The reason for this is the 55 ohm load and 91db. The K240 was never conceived with mobile audio in mind it was designed for studio use who have equipment with the ability to drive it. For mobile devices look for a headphone with a 32ohm load with 100+dB efficiency. So is a £50 headphone worth all this trouble? For me and many others absolutely yes. The K240 has a mesmerising mid range with a tight image that I can only describe as beguiling and addictive, this does not mean they have no bass, they do produce bass and it's not difficult to follow Ray Brown's upright bass on we get requests or the bass on Robbie Robertsons somewhere down the crazy river, but it never interferes with what's going on in the mids, vocals, guitars etc. The highs are good, cymbals, triangles etc sound good. Sound stage is not particularly wide it bearly escapes the earpieces but it's good enough to place where instruments are but don't expect a K702 outside the head experience but at £50 how could you. The cable is detachable via a mini XLR connection with many custom cables available to tweak sound to your liking. The difference between the Studio and the MkII is only the silver finish and choice of earpad velvet or pleather and straight and coiled cable on the MkII. Stick K240's on your head put on Sarah McLachlan's mirror ball and the world will just fade away

I've owned K240 s (Made in AUSTRIA) for over 10 years. I'm a semi-pro mix engineer and musician and know them very well. I've mixed music that's made it's way to US TV on those headphones. They used to cost over £100 and were made in Austria up until around 2013 I think. After that, all the 'lower end' AKG's moved to Chinese production. Many claimed they sound identical. THEY DO NOT. I have some MKII (silvers) here made in china from around 5 years back. They sound pretty awful next to the 'legendary' K240s AUSTRIA made cans that people raved about for years. The soundstage on the chinese/MKII is muted, muffled, indirect, muddy and cheap sounding. Just a bit better than the typical £20 sony consumer phones you can buy. I couldn't mix on them confidently, there's no detail and the soundstage is small and dirty. Compare to the austrian made K240s (Gold) made before 2013, these are what built the rep (along with the classic much older K240/sextet etc), the older AUSTRIA made ones are direct, full sounding, like you are IN the music, all details can be heard, it's amazing to mix/edit audio on and sound like phones cost hundreds more. I just don't want anyone getting fooled into thinking these newer MKII and also the MK1 chinese (post 2013) models are going to sound/work great for mixing or even listening. It's a shame AKG cashed in on their own legacy in such a way because people will assume those of us highly rate the old K240s are talking about this newer mediocre sound. Ignore anyone who claims there's no difference, there is, just not between k240s (china) and K240s MKII (these sound the same), but the 'real' K240s wasn't made in china and had to be bought before 2013. Even some more expensive AKG modern phones over £100 don't sound/work as good as the OLD AUSTRIA K240s because they are also made in China, not sure why that makes so much difference but clearly the drivers are NOT the same or not calibrated as well cos they can't touch the original K240 or K240 studio made in Austria for being used for pro work. I give them 3/5 because they aren't too expensive and have some comfy velour pads and 2 cables, my GF uses them for TV, about all they are worth using them with sadly. Original K240s AUSTRIA would get 10/5 they are THAT good. If it doesn't sound 'made in austria' around the gold bad on the cable side of the phones then it's chinese tat sadly.

These headphones are quite good. I personally produce drum and bass. I find these pick out alot of errors in mixdowns, as the mids are quite warm, it lets you pick out what instruments clash with eachother in the mids, which imo is the most important thing to notice to end up with a clean mix. It also, surprisingly, sticks the sub out quite abit, despite reading reviews that bass is lacking. For people who produce instrumentals (more lofi than modern hip-hop) these are definitely a good idea, as they portray the drums as they are in front of you and you are playing them, you can hear the crispness of the snare, and the cymbals/hats/rides (if stereo separated) sound just like they would in a drum room. Comfort wise, these feel very enclosing, yet not entrapping. If your in a room with other people (and your music is not turned up to 100) you can tell what is going on. Also, as they are semi-open, you can hear everything everyone says when no music is played. They come with velour/velvet earpads, that are very comfortable, compared to the leathers, and provide a more encompassing feeling. They are also washable, which is a plus if you hate dirty leather pads. When placed around your neck, they dont feel particularly sharp or intruding, an added plus. They will most likely feel very weird, if you come from a bass heavy headphone (Audio Technica ATH series for example) but you can get used to it. For producers, they pick out errors in mixes, and (for consumers too this) they definitely define the difference between a badly mixed, well mixed, and greatly mixed track.